Gosta Berling

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Gösta Berling (original title: Gösta Berlings saga ) is a novel by the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf . The novel, Selma Lagerlöf's first work, was published in 1891. It is set in Värmland in the 1820s and is about the deposed pastor Gösta Berling, who becomes the leader of the cavaliers on Ekeby. The adventurous life of these cavaliers, former officers and impoverished nobles, who have found refuge on Gut Ekeby and spend their days with love adventures, making music, playing cards and similar amusements, is presented in numerous independent chapters. The story of Gösta Berling, who is refined to a better person after various experiences and experiences, forms the framework for a series of rather loosely linked episodes.

The first German edition was published by Haessel in Leipzig in 1896 .

History of origin

Selma Lagerlöf grew up listening to a multitude of stories at home. Many of these stories were about drinking pastors and abdicated officers, who had become superfluous with the beginning of the peace period from 1814 and often enough led a life as sophisticated day thieves at the expense of their families. Selma Lagerlöf found that these originals, about which she had heard so much, were at least as good literary figures as Carl Michael Bellman 's demimonde figures in Fredman's epistlar and Johan Ludvig Runeberg's soldiers in Ensign Stahl . She later told that in the autumn of 1881 in Stockholm the idea suddenly occurred to her to make a novel out of the stories and the people of her homeland. This is how the idea for Gösta Berling came about . In 1890 she took five chapters from the emerging novel in a novella competition of the magazine Idun and won the competition. In 1891 the complete novel was finally published.

The reviews were initially negative; conservative and liberal critics were unanimous in their rejection. Sales were bad too. It was only when the well-known Danish literary critic Georg Brandes published an extremely positive review of the Danish translation in 1893 that the assessment of the novel changed. Over time, Gösta Berling's success grew and today it is one of the best known and most widely read Swedish books.

The model for the figure of Gösta Berling was possibly Emanuel Branzell, a Värmland priest who was dismissed from service in 1836 for drinking, lived as a beggar and died in 1888. The outward appearance of Gösta Berling is influenced by a student whom Selma Lagerlöf met in 1873 on a train trip to Stockholm (an episode that she reports in the diary of Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf ). In the figure of Marianne Sinclaire, who is constantly observing herself and thinking about herself until her personality is in tatters, one can see a hidden self-portrait of Selma Lagerlöf. Selma Lagerlöf portrayed her paternal grandfather, Daniel Lagerlöf, in the figure of Lilijecrona, who loves his home but is still drawn to Ekeby again and again.

action

introduction

Part One.

Prästen ("The Pastor"): The young Pastor Gösta Berling has become addicted to drinking and is therefore neglecting his official duties. Although he gave a gifted sermon during the visitation of the bishop in his parish , after the visitation, which actually relieved him, he leaves the parsonage at night and in the fog and does not return to his office.

Part II.

Tiggaren ("The Beggar"): Gösta Berling has stolen from a little girl and now wants to commit suicide. But the majoress on Ekeby prevents him and makes him one of the cavaliers on Ekeby. Here she tells him her story: She was once the young, beautiful and innocent Margareta Celsing. She loved Altringer, a strong and wonderful, but poor man. But her parents forced her to marry the unloved Major Bernt Samzelius. Margareta had a secret relationship with Altringer. When her mother came to her and reproached her, Margareta rejected her mother and pretended not to know her. The mother cursed her, whereupon Margareta hit her mother. When Altringer, who had become wealthy in the meantime, died, he bequeathed his seven estates to Major Samzelius, which are now managed by the Major (married women could not own property at that time, which is why the Major had to be appointed as heir).

First chapter

Landskapet ("The Landscape"): A poetic description of the landscape in which the novel takes place.

second chapter

Julnatten ("Christmas Night"): On Christmas night , the devil comes to Ekeby in the form of the evil mine owner Sintram, where the cavaliers celebrate Christmas. Sintram reports that he has a contract with the majoress: Every year the majoress sacrifices the soul of a gentleman to him. The cavaliers then sign a contract with Sintram: The cavaliers are allowed to use the majoress's seven goods for themselves for a year. If they do something this year that is not cavalier-like, especially if they do something useful, then the devil may fetch their souls after the year is up. But if the cavaliers keep the contract, the devil takes the majoress's soul.

third chapter

Julmiddagen ("The Christmas Dinner "): At the festive dinner on Christmas Day, one of the cavaliers starts a quarrel with the majoress and, in anger, announces the major's relationship with Altringer. The major, who claims to have known nothing about this, banishes the majoress from his court. The majoress accepts her fate: Now the mother's curse has been fulfilled. The major leaves Ekeby and moves to another estate.

Chapter Four

Gösta Berling, poets ("Gösta Berling, the poet"). Poverty and need reign in Captain Uggla's house. Rescue seems to be at hand, as the son Ferdinand is engaged to the beautiful and rich Anna Stjärnhök. But she changed her mind and got engaged to the old but wealthy Dahlberg. Gösta Berling promises to bring Anna Stjärnhök back. But then Gösta Berling and Anna fall in love. Gösta wants to run away with Anna, but when they are followed by wolves, he sees this as a sign sent by God and asks Anna to marry Ferdinand.

Fifth chapter

La cachucha ("La cachucha"): Liljecrona, one of the cavaliers, always plays the dance La cachucha on his violin . Old Ensign Örneclou, who lies in bed with gout , suffers from being unable to dance to music.

Sixth chapter

Balen på Ekeby ("The Ball on Ekeby"): A ball is held on Ekeby. Gösta Berling falls in love with the beautiful and clever Marianne Sinclaire. Her father, the mine owner Melchior Sinclaire, plays cards with Gösta Berling. After Melchior Sinclaire has already gambled away his cash and coat, he uses his consent for Gösta Berling to marry his daughter. He can do this without hesitation because he is sure that his daughter Gösta Berling will never marry. Gösta wins. But then Melchior Sinclaire sees Gösta and Marianne kiss. He is angry that his daughter is getting involved with Gösta Berling and leaves the ball with his wife. Marianne wanders home through the icy winter night, but her father does not let her into the house and even hits Marianne's mother when she tries to open the door . Marianne lies down in the snow to die. Here she is found by the cavaliers who take her to Ekeby. Marianne realizes that she loves Gösta Berling.

Seventh chapter

De gamla åkdonen ("The old vehicles"): The majoress wants to go to her mother to reconcile with her. But first she wants to free Ekeby from the cavaliers with the help of the staff. But Marianne Sinclaire thwarted the attack.

Eighth chapter

Den stora björnen i Gurlita klätt ("The big bear from the Gurlitafelsen"): Major Anders Fuchs, one of the cavaliers, is eager to kill the big bear from the Gurlita rock . To do this, you need a magic ball that he has already cast. But he leaves the decisive shot to Bro's sexton so that he can impress the organist and get the organist's approval that he can marry his sister. Afterwards, Fuchs grieves that the triumph of having killed the bear did not go to him. When it turns out that the sexton didn't kill the right bear after all, Anders Fuchs is happy.

Chapter ninth

Auctions på Björne (“The auction in Björne”): Marianne Sinclaire is ill with smallpox . It survives, but its beauty is gone. Her father wants to auction his house so that Marianne cannot inherit it. Only at the last moment does he break off the auction. Marianne returns to her parents and makes up with them. Gösta Berling is beside himself with anger. Marianne does not manage to win him back because she tends to reflect on herself and is incapable of pure and strong feelings. Nevertheless, she mourns Gösta Berling.

Chapter ten

Unga grevinnan ("The Young Countess"). The beautiful young Countess Elisabet Dohna is married to Count Henrik Dohna, who is also still young but stupid and haughty. At a ball in the residence of the länsman (roughly: Land Police Commissioner), Elisabet Dohna is not happy because she feels sorry for the majoress imprisoned there. She asks Gosta Berling to free the majoress, but the latter refuses the request. Out of anger about this, Elisabet Dohna refuses to dance with Gosta Berling. In order to punish her for this, the cavaliers kidnap her, but bring her home safely. There Gösta Berling realizes how good the young countess is. He wants to dedicate his life to her service. Count Dohna demands that his wife kiss Gösta Berling's hand to make up for the refused dance. Gösta Berling does not allow this and puts its hands on the fire. Elisabet Dohna is overwhelmed that a man can do such a wonderful thing. She later learns that the cavaliers have freed the majoress. Elisabet and Gösta Berling become friends.

Eleventh chapter

Spökhistorier ("ghost stories"): Ulrika Dillner, the old housekeeper of Captain Uggla, married the evil Sintram, but regrets this marriage very much. Anna Stjärnhök, who lives in Captain Uggla's house, brings Ulrika back. Anna Stjärnhök is still mourning Gösta Berling and is not sure whether the wolves were really sent by God. On the way, Ulrika and Anna have an eerie appearance.

Chapter Twelve

Ebba Dohnas historia (“Ebba Dohna's story”): Anna Stjärnhök tells Elisabet Dohna the story of Ebba Dohna, Henrik Dohna's sister who died five years ago. Ebba Dohna was a devout girl who loved Jesus Christ dearly. One day she met her brother Henrik's young head of house and became engaged to him. She wanted her fiancé to become a pastor and serve Christ. One day after learning that her fiancé was actually a deposed pastor and could not fulfill her wish, she purposely contracted pneumonia and died. When Elisabet Dohna realizes that Ebba Dohna's fiancé was none other than Gösta Berling, she shows him out of her house.

Chapter thirteen

Mamsell Marie ("Mamsell Marie"): The over forty year old seamstress Mamsell Marie never wanted to know anything about love, but is now, unhappily, in love. Countess Märta Dohna, Henrik Dohna's mother, returns after a five-year absence and befriends Mamsell Marie. Mamsell Marie entrusts her with her love story. Märta Dohna uses this to publicly mock and humiliate Mamsell Marie.

Fourteenth Chapter

Kusin Kristofer ("Vetter Kristofer"): Cousin Kristofer, one of Ekeby's cavaliers, wants to ask for the hand of the widowed Märta Dohna. When she tells him how she treated Mamsell Marie, he lets it go.

Chapter fifteen

Livets stigar (“The Paths of Life”): Gösta Berling wants to become engaged to a poor and mentally disadvantaged girl. To prevent this, Elisabet Dohna hikes over the ice to Ekeby at night. Gösta Berling and Elisabet Dohna are reconciled.

Sixteenth Chapter

Botgöring (“The Penance”): Elisabet Dohna's nocturnal hike to Gösta Berling has spread bad rumors. Märta Dohna uses a trick to force Elisabet to admit that she loves Gösta Berling. Henrik Dohna orders that Elisabeth be treated like a servant by his mother as a punishment. Märta Dohna cruelly torments her daughter-in-law. Elisabeth accepts this because she wants to be punished for her illicit love for Gösta Berling. After a month she fled when she believed she had received a sign from God.

Chapter seventeenth

Järnet från Ekeby ("The iron from Ekeby"): Although the cavaliers have let the majoress's goods fall into disrepair and have stopped iron production , they want to bring the contractually agreed amount of iron that the majoress should deliver every year to Gothenburg . On the way they meet Elisabet Dohna. Gösta Berling would like to take her with him to Ekeby, but he lets her pleading soften him and lets her go. The cavaliers use tricks to pretend that the amount of iron owed has been delivered, thus saving Ekeby's honor. But Gosta Berling is depressed because he let Elizabeth go. In the meantime, Henrik Dohna has had his marriage to Elisabet Dohna, which was ineffective in Italy, declared null and void.

Chapter eighteenth

Liljecronas hem ("Liljecrona's home"): Liljecrona, one of the cavaliers on Ekeby, is the owner of the small Lövdala manor. Although he has a good home there and a family that loves him, he is drawn to Ekeby again and again because the happiness in Lövdala is getting too much for him and he lacks the turbulent, adventurous life in Ekeby.

Chapter Nineteenth

Dovres Häxa ("The Witch of Dovre"): The evil and unfortunate witch of Dovre roams the country. She asks Märta Dohna for a big ham. Märta Dohna refuses to hand over the ham. That is why the witch curses the stingy Märta Dohna: Magpies constantly pounce on Märta Dohna so that she can only stay in buildings.

Chapter twentieth

Midsommar ("Midsummer"): On Midsummer's Day, in the most beautiful summer weather, the evil Sintram in wolf's clothing takes the sledge to church and makes people shiver.

Chapter twenty-first

Fru Musica ("Frau Musica"): Gösta Berling has been melancholy since he let Elisabet Dohna go. The Cavaliers play the Oxford Symphony by Joseph Haydn to cheer him up. But it's no use. Old Löwenborg, who is very grieved because his fiancée drowned a long time ago, is playing a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven - but not on a real piano , but on a keyboard painted on a table. When Gösta Berling sees how happy Löwenborg is here, he is happy again too.

Twenty-second chapter

Broby prästen ("The pastor of Broby"): The old pastor of Broby is so stingy that he has become vicious and almost insane. But when the lover of his youth comes to visit, he is transformed, amiable, polite and considerate. When she leaves he is desperate.

Chapter twenty-third

Patron Julius ("Patron Julius"): Patron Julius, one of the cavaliers, takes a tearful farewell to Ekeby. His conscience warns him that he must finally move back to his old mother. But he'll be back in the evening. The cavaliers have already been waiting for him: his conscience calls him once a year, but each time he turns back shortly after leaving.

Chapter twenty-fourth

Lerhelgonen (“The saints made of clay”): Count Henrik Dohna has the church of Svartsjö restored in order to reconcile God. He has all the saints sunk in the lake. In the service, Pastor Henrik Dohna wants to thank for the renovation. But at that moment the cavaliers disguised as saints come into the church and carry Henrik Dohna out. Henrik Dohna then leaves with his mother and never returns.

Chapter twenty-fifth

Guds vandringsman ("The Messenger of God"): The good and friendly Captain Lennart was innocent for five years in prison for theft , but has now served his sentence and is on the way to his farm and family. Sintram and the Cavaliers watch Lennart on the way and make fun of it, getting him drunk and painting him a criminal face. In this condition they bring him home. Lennart's wife is appalled because she thinks her husband is a drifter and won't let him into the house. Captain Lennart accepts his fate as God-imposed and begins to wander around as God's messenger.

Twenty-sixth chapter

Kyrkogården (“The Cemetery”): Last year, Acquilon, one of the cavaliers, committed suicide. That is why he was not allowed to be buried in the Svartsjö cemetery, but only outside the cemetery in front of the wall. Three of the cavaliers, Beerencreutz, Fuchs and Ruster, play cards on Acquilon's grave so that he doesn't get bored there.

Twenty-seventh chapter

Gamla visor ("Old Songs"): Marianne Sinclaire becomes engaged to Baron Adrian, although she does not love him. She just wants to get away from her father. Baron Adrian, a funny and happy man, also says that he doesn't love Marianne, he just wants her money. When Melchior Sinclaire suffers a stroke and is meek and no longer so quick-tempered and quick-tempered, Marianne wants to break the engagement. But then Baron Adrian gets angry. He confesses that he loves Marianne and just didn't dare tell her that. Marianne wants to try to love him too. Love mixed with sadness, that's how she likes it best.

Twenty-eighth chapter

Döden friaren ("Death, the Liberator"): Ferdinand Uggla dies. His mother happily greets her son's death. She noticed that Anna Stjärnhök doesn't love him, but has only returned out of pity.

Chapter twenty-ninth

Torkan ("The Drought"): The weather has been unusually hot and dry since midsummer. The harvest withers. People believe that God wants to punish the stingy pastor of Broby. In a conversation he confided to Gösta Berling that as a young pastor he became stingy when he got to know the poverty and need in the remote communities in northern Värmland. Together with Gösta Berling, he is enthusiastic about the ideals of his youth. Gösta Berling advises him to pray for rain in the next service. The pastor of Broby follows the advice. At the end of the service it starts to rain. Overwhelmed with happiness, the pastor collapses dead.

Chapter thirtieth

Barnets mor ("The mother of the child"): Elisabet Dohna lived with farmers under a false name. She gives birth to a child at the end of August. Because Henrik Dohna had her marriage annulled and the sick child, who was born prematurely, has a father, Elisabet Dohna asks Gösta Berling to marry her - not out of love, but to give the child a father. Gösta Berling agrees, albeit reluctantly, because with such a wedding he destroys Elizabeth's future. The child dies shortly after the wedding. Elisabeth is happy that by sacrificing her own future, she was able to show her love for her child.

Chapter thirty-first

Amor vincit omnia ("Amor vincit omnia"): The philosopher Uncle Eberhard, one of the cavaliers on Ekeby, has just finished a book in which he proves that there is no God, that love is nothing but a movement of the body, comparable hunger, and that the only good thing is work. Uncle Eberhard tells Elisabet about his book. Elisabeth is saddened and says that if what is in the book is correct, she can no longer live. So that Elisabeth can live in peace, Uncle Eberhard hides the book in a box labeled Labor vincit omnia (“Work conquers everything”) in Svartsjö church. Only when the century is over can the box be opened and the book read. Actually, however, the inscription on the box should be Amor vincit omnia ("Love conquers everything"), because Uncle Eberhard renounces the publication of his book because of his fatherly love for Elisabeth.

Thirty-second chapter

Nygårdsflickan (“The girl from Nygård”): The girl Gösta Berling wanted to become engaged to ran into the forest in despair when she found out about Gösta Berling's wedding with Elisabet Dohna. The peasants are looking for the girl without success. Angry, they go to Ekeby to take revenge on Gosta Berling. But the cavaliers manage to appease the farmers with food and drink. Suddenly the peasants think they have seen the girl. They want to free the girl, but at that moment other farmers arrive who have found the girl's body in the forest. The peasants mistook Elizabeth for the girl. Gösta Berling has a deep affection for the poor farmers.

Thirty-third chapter

Kevenhüller ("Kevenhüller"): The German nobleman Kevenhüller left his parents' castle in the 1770s and trained as a watchmaker . One day he met the forest woman on the market square in Karlstad . Because Kevenhüller was respectful and polite to her, she gave him a special gift: he can create marvels, but only one of each. Kevenhüller made a self-propelled car and a flying machine. But both devices were destroyed, and Kevenhüller was unable to make new ones. Then he became one of the cavaliers on Ekeby. Now he thinks he recognizes the forest woman in Gösta Berling's wife Elisabeth. This awakens his enthusiasm for work and he creates an artificial sun. But out of desperation about his fate to be able to produce only one marvel at a time, and out of hatred for the forest woman, Kevenhüller lets Ekeby burn down. At Kevenhüller's request, the forest woman took his gift, but explained to him what she was trying to do with it: She never forbade him from having the marvels built by others. All she wanted was to save Kevenhüller from manual labor.

Chapter thirty-fourth

Broby marknad ("The Broby Fair"): At the Broby Fair, Captain Lennart saves several children from a wild bat by throwing himself between them. Fatally injured, he is carried home. Now his wife recognizes his true colors and learns how her husband has done good as a messenger of God. Captain Lennart opens his eyes, realizes that he is home, and dies.

Chapter thirty-fifth

Skogstorpet ("The House in the Forest"): Old Jan Hök lives with his wife in the forest near Ekeby. Jan Hök is bitter and vicious because he saw so many bad things during the war . Elisabeth comes to his house because she is looking for Gösta Berling. This has disappeared since Captain Lennart died. Gösta Berling is brought in tied up by servants who have found him in the forest. Gösta Berling reports that he actually wanted to emigrate to foreign countries out of shame about what he did to Captain Lennart; but Sintram persuaded him to die. For her part, Elisabet tells Gösta Berling that the cavaliers want to make amends for their misdeeds and have started to work. Elisabet urges Gösta Berling to go on living and to help people by her side. Jan Hök has now also been healed: he has finally met a good person, namely Elisabeth.

Thirty-sixth chapter

Margareta Celsing ("Margareta Celsing"): The majoress has made up with her mother and is now on her way to Ekeby. On the way she always hears good news: Gösta Berling helps the poor and the weak, supported by Anna Stjärnhök and Marianne Sinclaire. The hungry get hot meals on the farms. The old provost of Bro preaches that the kingdom of God is near. On Christmas Eve the majoress arrives in Ekeby with a high fever. But when she learns what pact the cavaliers made with the devil last year and that the cavaliers think she is a witch, she becomes angry. She decides to spoil the Cavaliers and Gosta Berling by bequeathing Ekeby to them. Gösta Berling is supposed to separate from his young wife. But at that moment the majoress heard the Ekeby smithy begin to work. Then the majoress becomes soft. The majoress on Ekeby has disappeared and Margareta Celsing reappears. She dies happy and redeemed. Gösta Berling wants to move into a small house with Elisabeth and continue his charitable work there. The cavaliers, however, are scattered in all directions. Sintram, meanwhile, dies that Christmas night under unexplained circumstances, whereupon his widow Ulrika Dillner transforms his house into a good home.

interpretation

imagination

Gösta Berling is a high song of the imagination. At a time when realistic , often socially critical, spelling was on the literary agenda, Selma Lagerlöf consciously refused the taste of the times and relied on an imaginative story with elements of fairy tales and legends. This is already clear in the original title of the work ( saga roughly means "fairy tale"). Selma Lagerlöf contrasts the gray, boring everyday life with the poetic description of life in Värmland in the past, not how it really was, but how she imagined and dreamed it. Pathos and great passions as well as adventurous stories and supernatural phenomena characterize the book, which contrasts contemporary "gray-weather literature" with the celebration of beauty and joie de vivre.

At the same time, the novel portrays the inadequacy of the imagination in relation to reality. In the Fru Musica chapter , Löwenborg fails to make the music he hears in his head sound on a real piano. And in the chapter Lerhelgonen a painter is mentioned who is not able to paint the wonderful pictures he sees in his imagination on the ceiling of the church in Svartsjö.

Destruction and death

Destructive, demonic forces are never far away in the world of Gösta Berling . This is expressed particularly suggestively in the chapter Den stora björnen i Gurlita klätt : “Nature is evil, possessed by invisible powers that harm people.” The appearance of the evil Sintram with sleigh and winter fur on midsummer's day has a similar effect. This omnipresence of evil forms the counterpoint to the joy and pleasure that the cavaliers bring into the world.

But the work of the cavaliers themselves is described as destructive, as a storm - a storm always heralds radical, painful changes at Selma Lagerlöf, for example in Jerusalem I and in the introductory chapter of Liljecrona's home - and as a wild hunt .

After all, death - "my pale friend", as it is called in the chapter Döden friaren - is always present, from the introduction in which Gösta Berling seeks death in the "eternal forests" to the final chapter in which the majoress dies .

The landscape

The starting point of the whole novel is the landscape, which is not presented at the beginning of the novel for nothing. The whole plot is even referred to as “memories” of this landscape. Selma Lagerlöf started out from the landscape in which she grew up and which she elevated into the romantic and fantastic in the novel. The real models can be seen everywhere: the Löven Lake in the novel is the Värmland Fryken Lake , the Ekeby in the novel is modeled on the Rottneros estate, and the model for the Lövdala in the novel is Mårbacka , the estate of Selma Lagerlöf's parents . Selma Lagerlöf's hometown Östra Ämtervik appears in the novel under the name Svartsjö, and the office in the novel is actually Sunne .

Ekeby and the Cavaliers

Something mythical comes into play in describing Ekeby. Ekeby becomes paradise, a place of eternal happiness. “The land where milk and honey flows”, it says using a quotation from the Bible in the chapter Gösta Berling, poeten . And in the chapter on Järnet från Ekeby , Ekeby is referred to as the “land of longing”. Atterboms Lycksalighetens ö was a literary model here. Even the cavaliers, colorful and fantastic portraits of striking people from the Värmland of bygone times, have something mythical about them, if only because of the significant number of twelve . The novel itself refers to the gods of Olympus and the knights of the round table of King Arthur . At the same time, the cavaliers also have parodic traits: Former war heroes, whose heroic deeds now consist of making music and playing cards.

The devil's pact

To a certain extent, the devil's pact forms the framework plot of the novel. Selma Lagerlöf alludes clearly to the Faust legend . Originally , Selma Lagerlöf even wanted to prefix the chapter Julnatten with a motto from Goethe's Faust : Blood is a very special juice.

At the same time, Selma Lagerlöf plays virtuously with the devil motif: Whether Sintram really is the devil or is in league with the devil or whether he is just an opaque businessman and gun dealer, to whom only popular superstition ascribes an alliance with the devil, remains open until the end .

The majoress

The majoress is the first in a whole series of strong women who play an important role in Selma Lagerlöf's work: women who stand self-confidently on their own two feet and have to assert themselves against weak and incompetent men. Seen in this way, the major embodies the principle of matriarchy. The major falls because she has sinned against the matriarchy by beating her mother. Only the love of another woman, Elisabet Dohna's love for Gösta Berling, restores order.

The home

The home and its threat has always been of special importance to Selma Lagerlöf, not least because of her own childhood and youth experience. Her own home, Mårbacka Manor , had to be sold by Gösta Berling a year before it appeared . This topic also plays a role in Gösta Berling in several ways. The family of Captain Uggla trembles at the evil landlord Sintram taking their home away from them. The good home that Liljecrona has in Lövdala is celebrated in a separate chapter. This was so important to Selma Lagerlöf that she later even made Liljecrona's home the subject of her own novel, Liljecrona's home . And when the chapter De gamla åkdonen says that the majoress is not the only one who has to see the destruction of a beloved home, there is no doubt that Selma Lagerlöf is talking about herself here. At the very end, the reader learns that Ulrika Dillner will transform the evil Sintram's house into a good home after his death.

Salvation through love

As in most of Selma Lagerlöf's works, the victory of love is Gösta Berling's big theme . It is Elisabeth's love that redeems Gösta Berling and guides her on the right path. But love has many facets in Gösta Berling : Gösta Berling's passionate and stormy love for Anna Stjärnhök and Marianne Sinclaire, Ebba Dohna's enthusiastic and spiritual love for Jesus, Marianne Sinclaire's melancholy love for Baron Adrian, the fatherly love of Elis Uncle Eberhard's forabet , even the savage but sincere love of the cavaliers for the dead Aquilon - love is always present.

job

“The good, joyful work,” says the Midsommar chapter . Labor vincit omnia - work conquers everything - has Uncle Eberhard stamped on the box in which he hides his book, A Praise for Work, in the church in Svartsjö. Even in the final chapter of the novel, there is talk of the “labor victory hymn”. The victory, the beneficial effect of the work is one of the important themes of Gösta Berling . The cavaliers overcome their careless life through work, the majoress finds peace and forgiveness through work with their mother, and through work Gosta Berling and Elisabeth overcome the guilt they have incurred.

Language and storytelling

Characteristic of the language in Gösta Berling is an exuberant and emphatic tone, the use of exclamations, interjections , superlatives and paradoxes (“Gösta Berling, strongest and weakest among people” - from the chapter Gösta Berling, poets ). Thomas Carlyle's style is often cited as the model for the language in Gösta Berling . Selma Lagerlöf creates a first-person narrator who often comments on the plot in the style of the choir in the ancient tragedy (example: "O God!" - from the chapter Den stora björnen i Gurlita klätt ) or addresses the reader directly (example: “I beg you, read and love them [the verses]” - from the chapter Auctions på Björne ). A frequently used stylistic device is effective and increasing repetition. She introduces the chapter Julnatten with the words "Sintram is the name of the malicious mine owner on Fors". The next three sections each begin: "His name is Sintram, and ...", whereupon he is characterized in more detail. The following section then leads effectively into the middle of the action: "His name is Sintram, and once he came to Ekeby". It is characterized by the extraordinary dynamic of the language. The very first impatient sentence in the novel makes this clear: "At last the pastor was standing in the pulpit."

The first-person narrator skillfully creates distance between the novel and the reader. The stories are referred to as old legends several times, and the first-person narrator expressly gives the reader several options whether he or she believes all of this or not. In the last paragraph of the novel, the stories are described as "giant bees of fantasy" that have to worry about how they fit into the "beehive of reality". This was the only way for Selma Lagerlöf, a privately - as we know from letters - thoroughly skeptical and rational person, to deal appropriately with the topic that was close to her heart.

Even the deliberately artificial language is not Selma Lagerlöf's natural idiom, but a deliberately created language that she needed to find the right tone for the fantastic stories.

Selma Lagerlöf's episode technique is characteristic of Gösta Berling : an entire novel is made up of individual chapters, each of which represents independent narratives. She kept this technique all her life, even if the chapters are more closely linked in later works. In Gösta Berling, however, many chapters lead a kind of life of their own within the novel: numerous chapters contain stories (for example about Liljecrona and his home, about the book that Uncle Eberhard wrote, or about the cavaliers' card game on the grave of the dead Aquilon), which have little to do with the main plot of the novel.

meaning

Gösta Berling was Selma Lagerlöf's first novel, and after initially bad reviews and sluggish sales, Gösta Berling was also her breakthrough. With its loosely assembled structure and its imaginative plot that bursts the boundaries of the real, Selma Lagerlöf defied the usual patterns of the time. To this day, Gösta Berling is one of the best known and most widely read Swedish books. At the same time, Gösta Berling is counted among Selma Lagerlöf's greatest masterpieces.

It is particularly remarkable how Selma Lagerlöf creates a larger unit by joining together rather independent individual chapters. It is precisely through the episode-like narrative technique that she succeeds in depicting and depicting an entire landscape with the people living there, their way of life, their traditions and customs.

In Gösta Berling , Selma Lagerlöf suggests many themes that will accompany her throughout her life: the landscape in which Gösta Berling is set is also the setting for the novels Liljecrona's Home and The Emperor of Portugal . Even place names and personal names from Gösta Berling appear again in the two novels. The blessing effect of the work also plays an important role in The Miracles of the Antichrist and Jerusalem . The victory of love is a constant theme at Selma Lagerlöf anyway.

In terms of style, Gösta Berling remained a loner. In her next novel, The Miracles of the Antichrist , she already used a simpler style, which she simplified more and more over the course of her life.

Film adaptations and settings

filming

Gösta Berling was made into a film in 1924 by the Swedish director Mauritz Stiller , who also wrote the screenplay (see Gösta Berling (film) ). The playing time of this silent film is 165 minutes. The title role was played by Lars Hanson , the role of Elisabeth Dohna was played by the then 19-year-old Greta Garbo . In 1987 the work was broadcast again by NDR in the DER FILMCLUB series in a musical version that Jürgen Lamke had created for clarinet, violin, cello and piano on behalf of NDR. In 2006 the Swedish Film Institute released a newly restored version with an orchestral version by Matti Bye .

Dubbing

Riccardo Zandonai's opera I cavalieri di Ekebù from 1925, based on a libretto by Arturo Rossato , is based on Gösta Berling . The opera enjoyed a triumphant premiere, especially in Sweden.

Quotes

  • Med dunder och brak brusade aventyrens vilda jakt runtom Lövens långa sjö. På långt håll hördes des dån. Skogen sviktade och föll, alla ödeläggelsens makter sluppolösa. Vådelden flammade, forsen härjade, vilddjuren ströko hungriga kring gårdarna. ("The wild hunt of the adventure roared with thunder and noise around the long Löven Lake. Their roar could be heard from a long distance. The forest gave way and fell, all forces of destruction came loose. The fire blazed, floods devastated, and Wild animals roamed the farms hungry. ”) - from the chapter Auctions på Björne .
  • O, sena tiders barn! Jag har ingenting nytt att berätta er, endast det, som är gammalt och next glömt. Sägner har jag från barnkammeren, där de små sutto på låga pallar kring sagoberätterskan med det vita håret, eller från stockelden i stugan, där drängar och torpare sutto och språkade, medan ångan rykte v döras våidgo halsidar dön deras våta kläder och att breda ut smör på tjockt, mjukt bröd, eller från salen, där gamla herrar sutto i vaggande gungstolar och, livade av den ångande toddyn, talade om flydda tider. ("Oh, children of later times! I have nothing new to tell you, only what is old and almost forgotten. I have my say from the children's room, where the little ones sat on low stools around the storyteller with the white hair, or from Wood fire in the hut, where the farmhands and cottagers sat and talked while the haze seeped from their damp clothes and while they pulled knives from the leather sheath hung around their necks to smear butter on thick, soft bread, or from halls, where old gentlemen sat in rocking chairs and, animated by the steaming punch, spoke of times gone by. ”) - from the chapter Spökhistorier
  • Här ha nu fantasiens yättebin svärmat omkring oss under år och dag, men hur de ska comma i in verklighetens kupa, det få de sannerlingen se sig om. ("Here the giant bees of fantasy have raved about us year and day, but how they get into the hive of reality is something they really have to take care of") - from the Margareta Celsing chapter

literature

expenditure

Swedish

German

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edgardo Pellegrini: The Knights of Ekebù in: Opera. An illustrated representation of the opera from 1597 to the present , Drei Lilien Verlag, Wiesbaden 1981, ISBN 3-922383-01-7 , p. 396